In a much anticipated match-up, and one that had the fan bases of 2 storied basketball programs riled up, the Duke Blue Devils were able to hold off the surging Kentucky Wildcats 75-68 in a very entertaining game. It pitted two polar opposite schools of thought: Youth Vs Experience, 1 and Done vs. 4 year players. In the end the only thing that was clear was that both of these teams are good, but both have a long way to go. Kentucky may not have the perfect alignment of stars as they had last year but they do have talent, a lot of talent. Alex Poythress shook off a bad game against MD to give Duke fits with his size. Easily able to rebound and score over the much smaller Rasheed Sulaimon scoring 20 points and grabbing 8 rebounds, essentially it was a PF being matched up with a 2 guard but Sulaimon counted with some offense of his own with 10 points, 6 rebounds and a game high 5 assists. Key to Duke being able to maintain its lead were Sulaimons 3 makes from beyond the arc. The stories of the game for Duke were the play of its seniors. Mason Plumlee did his thing to the tune of 18 points, but was limited to 29 minutes due to foul trouble. He was able to match-up well against heralded freshman Nerlens Noel, who scored 16. While that is a great stat-line for the freshmen, much of that work was done with Plumlee trying to avoid contact. Seth Curry was able to shake and bake his way into the scoring column with 23 points. Curry did it in a multitude of ways. Scoring on drives to the basket, and good shots from beyond the arc. Being the crafty veteran that he is Curry was even able to drive and score against Noel who is a shot blocking machine using ball and head fakes to get the freshmen off of his feet.
The effort that will be least talked about was Ryan Kellys’. While he only scored 10 points his defensive effort against probably Kentuckys most versatile, skilled and best shooting player Kyle Wiltjer was probably what had Duke in the lead for most of the game. Wiltjer is an excellent shooter and has a very high basketball IQ and Kelly did good to limit the sophomore to 5 points. Kelly is not generally known for his defense it was clear that Duke scouted Wiltjer well and prepared Kelly who played like a savvy veteran. It was a treat to watch two great coaches go at it, it was very much a game of chess with players as pieces. Curry w
This game is definitely a nice beginning to what Duke hopes will be an impressive resume. There is still a lot to work on. On the defensive end the Devils need to defend the dribble drive a lot better and there were a multitude of plays where Kentucky was able to get behind Duke in the zone. At this point in the season it seemed as though Duke was going through the motions on certain defensive series rather than reacting to what was actually occurring. Offensively it was still a little too choppy, not as much fluidity. Some of that comes from just lack of real game situations and some was due to the size and length of the Wildcats. Duke did show that it has fight and its doubtful that they will face too many teams with the size that Kentucky has.
It’s a good win for the program but just as any November game, it means little in terms of anything but pride. Tonight Duke faithful is proud.
Duke vs Kentucky
11/13/12 9:30 p.m. at Atlanta, Ga.
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VISITORS: Duke 2-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 Mason Plumlee....... f 7-8 0-0 4-4 0 3 3 5 18 3 5 2 1 29
34 Ryan Kelly.......... f 4-11 1-3 1-4 1 2 3 2 10 1 0 3 3 34
03 Tyler Thornton...... g 0-1 0-1 2-2 0 3 3 1 2 2 1 0 1 20
14 Rasheed Sulaimon.... g 3-14 3-7 1-2 2 4 6 1 10 5 0 0 0 33
30 Seth Curry.......... g 7-14 3-5 6-6 1 2 3 0 23 1 0 1 1 34
02 Quinn Cook.......... 3-5 1-2 0-2 0 3 3 2 7 3 2 0 0 30
12 Alex Murphy......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
15 Josh Hairston....... 2-3 0-0 1-2 4 1 5 5 5 0 0 0 0 14
21 Amile Jefferson..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 4
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 26-57 8-18 15-22 11 20 31 17 75 16 8 6 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-30 40.0% 2nd Half: 14-27 51.9% Game: 45.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-11 36.4% 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 44.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-10 50.0% 2nd Half: 10-12 83.3% Game: 68.2% 4
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HOME TEAM: Kentucky 1-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 Noel, Nerlens....... f 5-11 0-0 6-8 2 6 8 3 16 2 1 3 4 38
22 Poythress, Alex..... f 9-12 1-2 1-2 5 3 8 2 20 0 2 0 0 37
33 Wiltjer, Kyle....... f 2-5 1-2 0-0 1 2 3 2 5 4 0 0 0 32
10 Goodwin, Archie..... g 5-12 1-2 5-8 1 5 6 4 16 4 4 1 0 37
34 Mays, Julius........ g 2-8 1-4 2-2 0 1 1 3 7 3 4 0 0 37
04 Hood, Jon........... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
05 Polson, Jarrod...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 12
15 Cauley-Stein, Willie 2-3 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 3 4 0 1 0 0 6
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 25-51 4-10 14-21 9 21 30 20 68 13 13 4 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-24 45.8% 2nd Half: 14-27 51.9% Game: 49.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-5 60.0% 2nd Half: 1-5 20.0% Game: 40.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 8-10 80.0% Game: 66.7% 5,1
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